ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 17 -- United States Patent no. 12,416,449, issued on Sept. 16, was assigned to MAHLE International GmbH (Stuttgart, Germany).
"Folded coil tube spacer" was invented by Robert Louis Runk (Lockport, N.Y.), Scott Kent (Albion, N.Y.) and Ryan Rowan (Newfane, N.Y.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A spacer device for incorporation into a bent-tube heat exchanger that includes a spine and a plurality of fingers that protrude from one side of the spine. The number of fingers in the spacer device is less than the number of tubes that are folded in a region to form the bent-tube heat exchanger. The plurality of fingers are configured to exert a force against the tubes and to provid...